Aibouship
by Aithril the Elf-Maiden
Summary: One-shot Peer into the mind of the real Aithril and see the ups and downs of having your soul split in half that are not portrayed in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TV show.


Aibouship  
  
Author Notes: This is so random, I know. It's a one-shot in response to a certain reviewer who keeps pestering me about my 'fake' yami and how much better her 'real' one is. Below is a story of a sleepover... it's fictional, but the facts are real. Let's hope you start to see the pains and joys of having a yami.... if you allow yourself the privilege.  
  
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Kita's eyes snapped open at the sudden silence, momentarily disoriented. A computer hummed quietly nearby and an alarm clock blinked 12:04 in a searing, red light that nearly blinded her. This wasn't her room.... she eased up into a sitting position and felt the shifting of a mattress beneath her. She noticed how sheets and a soft comforter fell away, and was aware of the steady breathing of another person beside her.  
  
She instantly relaxed, her jaw widening in a yawn. Aithril and her had been watching episodes of Inuyasha for the billionth time... she must have fallen asleep. Her counterpart always fell asleep in a matter of minutes in a dark, movie-theater-type setting. It was doubtful that Aithril'd ever seen the end of a movie past eight'o'clock since she was four.  
  
Kita, on the other hand, usually stayed up. Perhaps she was especially tired tonight... she had been working at the barn yesterday. Shoveling stalls could take a lot out of a person.  
  
The yami yawned again and carefully climbed over Aithril to reach the remote control. The TV obediently clicked off, when she pushed the power button, a small spark of light fading from the center of it's screen.  
  
The mattress creaked as she crept meticulously back into the cozy and comforting niche her body had left nestled among the tangle of sheets.  
  
For all her care and sneakiness, something caused Aithril to stir. "Yami?" she murmured sleepily.  
  
"Yes?" Kita removed the other girl's glasses and placed them carefully on the night table beside her own.  
  
"Is Inuyasha over?"  
  
"I just turned it off. We fell asleep."  
  
"Oh." Aithril sounded more awake now.  
  
"Do you want to watch something else?"  
  
"No, I'm still pretty tired." Really, she was far from it.  
  
"All right. G'night." A wave of affection engulfed Aithril, and she basked happily in it's warmth, relaxing to the point of unconsciousness. She sent her own to Kita and felt the yami smile in the darkness.  
  
But now Aithril was indeed fully alert. She tossed and turned restlessly until she reached a more comfortable position among the pillows. Out of boredom, Aithril opened her eyes and unfocused them. A reflection from the street below her window bounced on the ceiling and she almost giggled, watching the little rainbow stars trip from left to right in clumsy, adorable shimmers that left her speechless.  
  
Soon her thoughts were scattered up among the stars, and one of her greatest worries pulsed like an angry wound among them. She sighed softly, mentally clasping it between both hands with child-like delicacy. She contemplated it from every angle, reviewing the facts as an investigator might examine a case.  
  
For weeks now, her friend, Laura, had been hinting at something that she thought was going on between Aithril and Kita. Something more-than- friendship, disgustingly. Yet it was more than friendship, the aibou in question acknowledged, worrying her lip between her teeth; it was aibouship.  
  
She really did giggle now, though it was barely audible and Kita didn't even flinch. A serious frown mounted it's throne on the hikari's features as she quieted once more.  
  
That was another thing she was worried about, though not as much so as the Laura problem... it glared orange among the rainbow stars with such a menacing aura that she almost felt physically nauseous...  
  
In a nutshell, Kita knew of Laura's suspicions -of course- and Aithril was anxious about the clueless girl's safety.  
  
Her yami wouldn't hurt her friend, she was almost sure... but Laura was... well, she knew how to fit in with the popular crowd and start a conversation with the most unlikely people while Kita and Aithril just didn't. She had a few annoying habits such as talking when it wasn't necessary to fill a comfortable silence and entering someone's room and moving things around.  
  
As funny as it was to watch Kita twitch when Laura poked through her room, it probably wouldn't be beneficial to her health in the long-term.  
  
Poor Laura... she was a great person, but the opposite of Aithril and Kita. They were comfortable with silence and talked when they felt like it, or needed to include other people in their silent conversation. Words weren't needed to communicate.  
  
Laura was one of the few remaining friends the split soul shared. It wasn't for lack of friendliness (on Aithril's part anyway) because she had made so many friends.  
  
The problem was that after having a yami to confide in for what was fast approaching eight years, she just didn't need anyone else. Laura was fading fast as they seemed to grow farther and farther apart. Aithril felt helpless now, sniffling a little as she was pulled more deeply into her thoughts, like a fish caught on a hook.  
  
She didn't want to lose Laura- God no- but it seemed as though she just wasn't good enough. Kita was her aibou- and she filled Aithril's need for love, caring, worry, and support better than even a best friend could- or maybe a lover.  
  
Aithril turned red now, thinking of a certain guy she had seen at school. Did she say guy? Correction: god. She'd totally melted when he'd walked around the corner and smiled at her with two straight rows of pearly white teeth.... not to mention those simply gorgeous and intense green eyes.... she shook her head lightly, glad the darkness hid the blush on her cheeks and neck, though no one was there to see it.  
  
Obviously, despite Laura's concerns and 'subtle' hints, she was not a lesbian. Between her and Kita... it was so wrong to even think about that. She wrinkled her nose in distaste. It would be like.... like... there was no word for it. Perhaps the closest she could manage was 'incest'! (Laura conveniently had a large load of -ahem- sexual wisdom at her disposal and, against the wishes of Kita, shared it with the hikari.) But that wasn't right, for Kita was far closer than a brother or sister could ever be, and they hadn't had a fight in years.  
  
In fact, she could only remember one. Aithril couldn't remember what exactly it was about, but she knew that she'd called Kita a... a... she was yanked back to the present as it threatened to drag her down in the ocean of her mind with a riptide of guilt and hold her till her breath was gone.  
  
A bitch.  
  
That was it.  
  
As soon as she thought it, her heart ached in pain, to have ever called her yami, her darkness, the other half of her soul, and the biggest love of her life such a name.  
  
In the hallways of her school, people jokingly (and not so jokingly) called each other that all the time. Friends were known to clap each other on the back and shout, "What's up, bitch?!" But it was such a vile word...  
  
The hikari had taken it back, of course, clapping a hand over her mouth as soon as she'd said it. All was forgiven, she knew. She'd felt it when Kita had told her so. Her other half hadn't been lying; if she had, the younger girl would have known it with the utter certainty that she would eventually die. Yet Aithril couldn't forget the guilt...  
  
She swallowed heavily and put it out of her mind for a moment.  
  
Aithril returned to the scattered bits of worry still remaining on the ceiling and was surprised to see them sparser and less ominous than before. "The Fight" must have taken up a lot of space on her mind.  
  
She organized the last few into school-related problems until there was only one little bit left.... losing Kita. As in... death. It had always been her greatest fear. In her creative writing class at school, she had been told to write about her greatest joy and her greatest fear. Her joy: Kita. Her fear: No Kita. Life without Kita seemed impossible, and utterly.... unwantable. In fact, it was impossible. She wasn't being melodramatic when she thought, *I would die without Kita.*  
  
Perhaps even worse than death was the threat that loomed nearer in the future: college.  
  
Aithril wanted to do something with either writing, or computers, while Kita wanted to become a master chef, or a photographer. They were completely different interests. Not only that, but Kita was a city person, while she needed a forest to run in and just sit quietly. Were there truly only two and a half years of happiness left in her future?  
  
She couldn't bear to be any further away from her yami than she already was.  
  
Unlike Yugi and Yami, Ryou and Bakura, and even Marik and Malik (the lucky bastards that they were), her yami had a family. She could only see her aibou once a day, perhaps, or even two when she was lucky. Sleepovers like these served to connect their halves into one.  
  
Afterall, no one could be separated into light and dark without suffering. Aithril wondered if there was anyone else who was in the same situation and could stand it, or if she and Kita were merely one, lonely pair of halves seeking to heal themselves together. Did others feel the same? Did they wither up and die from a constant, keening pain that came as a result of the light being more than half a mile away from her dark for most of the day?  
  
The hikari's brow furrowed in thought.  
  
"Care to share?"  
  
She squeaked and her whole body jerked in surprise, flipping spastically to face her yami. Kita chuckled quietly and rose into a meditative pose. "You're obviously worrying something to death."  
  
"I am not." Her voice sounded small, even to her.  
  
"Then why are you chewing on your lip like you do when you're worried?"  
  
"But I'm not-"  
  
"I can smell the blood." Typical of her, Aithril thought wryly, sitting up straight in bed. Her tongue poked at the small cut and she winced.  
  
"Well?" Kita prodded and her aibou sighed.  
  
"I- I just-" She pressed one of the concerns on her mind. "- what'll we do for college?"  
  
It was her yami's turn to sigh. "I don't know," she admitted. "I'm working on that one." She sensed Aithril's face fall in the darkness. "We'll at least get colleges near each other."  
  
"But what if we don't? What if we're too far apart and can't even see each other more than once a mon-"  
  
She was crushed in a fierce hug that poured warmth, courage, and strength into her tired mind.  
  
"Never even think that," Kita told her, resting her chin on Aithril's shoulder. "I promise... I don't know. But wherever we'll be, it'll only be an hour at the very most. That's as far as I could stand it without dropping dead. Oh, and if you're still concerned about the whole thing with Laura, don't be. I promise not to kill her- yet, anyway- and we'll just have to... act.... normally-" Her grip around her light tightened. "-Or at least as normally as possible."  
  
"Yes," Aithril agreed, hugging her yami just as warmly.  
  
For now, they simply clutched each other, unmoving. It was at times like this when they felt as whole as they would ever be. 


End file.
